ABarOfSoap

I dont get why are bow season has to start so late in october, the first 2 weeks in October i saw 4 nice bucks all grouped up, they would move in day light hours all the time. But once are season started on October 18th they were all split up and basiclly nocturnal. Not to mention about 90 percent of all the rubs in my area where done before that date. I just dont see why they cant give us bow hunters a cupple weeks earlier to hunt.

Canuck33

While I agree with you I'm failry certain i read an article that sadi DEC does it to avoid conflict with other small game season that are open in the 1st part of october.I think that is a crap excuse though since season overlap all the time and it's not like bowhunters screw things up.I think within the near future we might see Oct. 1st in the southern zone

JJNY

I compare NY and Va seasons all the time becauseI hunt both. Here is how they stacked up in 2008...

Virginia (East of the Blue Ridge)
Archery Oct. 4th thru Nov. 14th
Muzzleloader Nov. 1st thru Nov. 14th
Gun Nov. 15th thru Dec. 3rd

NY (Southern Zone)
Archery Oct. 18th thru Nov. 14th
Gun Nov. 15th thru Dec. 7th
Muzzleloader/Archery Dec. 8th thru Dec. 16th

I look at it like this, most hunters only have the weekends to hunt. NY allows Sunday Hunting and Va does not. If you just take weekends into consideration, NY has 18 days to hunt and Va has only 14 even though their season runs longer. I think each State likes to have it's own policies but, I believe each sets their season up to allowabout the same amount of days to hunt as the others.